Features of a CV

A CV, or Curriculum Vitae, to give it its Latin name, is an account of your entire education and
employment history. The term translates as ‘course of life’, and it really is that – a record of your
working life so far. It is far more detailed than a resume, from which elements are often excluded
if they are considered irrelevant. A CV should include everything you’ve ever done, listed in
reverse chronological order, to make it easier to prioritise more recent information. As a result, a
CV is longer than a resume, although two pages is the recommended length.

Information in a CV is arranged according to subheadings, to make it easier for the reader to

quickly skim through and find the information he or she needs. Remember, your CV is intended to
let prospective employers find out about you in the hope that they will offer you a job, so it’s in
your interest to make it easy to understand!

The sections of a CV may include the following, although many sections can be moved up or down
depending on what information is relevant for the specific job.

1. Profile/Objectives – a short statement, tailored to fit the requirements of the prospective

employer;
2. Education/Qualifications – a list of institutions and courses, with grades awarded and dates
attended;
3. Skills/Competencies – any skills or achievements that are relevant to the job. You can include
most things, but be sensible – there is no need to mention the 10m swimming badge you got
when you were six!
4. Career Summary – this should be the most detailed part, it can be moved higher up the
document if necessary. Each job should have a short description of the skills you used and
your achievements within the role. A few bullet points are sufficient, with more detailed
accounts of more recent/relevant positions.
Features of a resume

A resume should be a shorter, more focused account of your relevant skills and achievements.
Although the exact length of a resume is open to debate, in general it should not exceed one page
in length, and it’s safer to be conventional; after all, you want to get the job. It’s fine to miss
things out of a resume to keep the length down; you should only include the things that are most
relevant to the position you are targeting. Resumes also often miss out some of the more personal
details that CVs include, such as hobbies and interests.

As with CVs, resumes are usually organised into a few essential sections. However, one key
difference between a CV and a resume is that resumes are focused on your skills and
accomplishments, rather than providing an objective account of your history. As a result, resumes
often feature aggrandising language, and tend to be more obviously self-promoting than CVs.

You can afford to be a bit less formal with the structure of a resume than with a CV, and there is
a wider scope for creative presentation. That said, there are three main formats that are
generally used:

1. Chronological – this is the most common format, and is very similar in organisation to a CV;
2. Functional – your skills/qualifications act as a backbone, around which the rest of the resume
is structured;
3. Focused – as above, but with the content organised in relation to the targeted position.
Different formats are used in different job proposals, and knowing about all the formats is
good. Let me explain the difference between them:

Biodata:

Bio-data stands for Biographical data and is an archaic term for Resume or C.V. In a bio
data, the focus is on personal particulars like date of birth, gender, religion, race, nationality,
residence, marital status, and the like. A chronological listing of education and experience
comes after that.

Unlike other formats, a biodata does not have much in terms of formatting and in most
cases the format is provided by the institution. This makes it easy to collect data in very
sequential manner but this format does not do much in the case of explaining the skills as it
is not tailored according to the need of the company although it does prove ample amount
of information about one’s skills and talents.

A biodata can range from about 1 page to 3 page depending on the quantity of information
required by the institute.

C.V. – CURRICULUM VITAE

Curriculum Vitae is a Latin word meaning “course of life”. It is more detailed than a resume,
generally 2 to 3 pages, or even longer as per the requirement. This format is used when we
want to describe our life’s activity in detail format. It covers general talent rather than
specific skills for any specific positions.

A CV is generally used by college freshers or recent graduate seeking for the job. It can also
be used by someone who is seeking a job change or someone who has not been in the
industry for a long period of time. Although it is sort of a biography, there are certain rules
to be followed to make sure that your CV is consistent with the general convention and
trends used for writing the CV.

Resume

Resume is a French word meaning “summary”. A resume is an outline or summary of one’s

education, skills and employment. It does not list down all details of a profile, but showcases
specific skills customized to the target job. It is thus usually 1 or at the max 2 pages long,
written in the third person to give it an objective and formal tone.

Your resume must contain information in a condensed manner. Here you are required to
provide only those skills and experiences that are relevant and essential for the job you have
applied. You do not need to fill up everything that you may have in your arsenal of talent.
A good resume would start with a brief Profile of the candidate, Summary of Qualifications,
followed by Industry Expertise and Professional Experience in reverse chronological order.
Focus is on the most recent experiences, followed by responsibilities and accomplishments.
Previous experiences are only presented as a summary. This would be followed by Education
details and/or Professional Affiliations and/or Voluntary Initiatives.
Advertising your-self with a professional profile is a very daunting task when
you are confused between these three terms – “Resume, CV and BioData”.
Specially, it is very confusing for a fresher who first time plans to enter into the
corporate world.

To bring out from the confusion, these are the differences between “Resume,
C.V., and BioData”.

Biodata :-
Biodata:- A Biodata is also called a “Biographical Data”

Definition:- A Biodata is a document which mainly contains the personal facts

about a person. Sometimes, with the personal facts, it also contains the
educational background, professional background, skills, hobbies, interest,
strengths, potential, and achievements of a person.

The personal facts a Biodata includes :– a person’s height, weight, father’s

name, Mother’s name, gender, complexion, caste, religion, marital status,
nationality, permanent address, date of birth etc.

The best used in places:- India uses Biodata for the marriage purpose.

The best used for:- The uses of a Biodata differs from country to country – in
India, it is mainly used for traditional marriage purposes, but in many other
countries, it is often used to apply for employment.

The length of a Biodate:- One page of a Biodata with personal facts is

sufficient for marriage purpose, but if you want to consider it to showcase your
personal & professional detail both, it may go up-to two – three pages.
Resume :-
Pronunciation of a Resume : re-su-me

Definition:- A Resume is a short summary of your skills, education,

experiences, accomplishments, ability and talent that plays a vital role when
you like to become a top businessman, like to do non-profitable job, profitable
job, or government job.

A standard polished Resume can resolve the purpose of getting the interview
calls quickly; choose the best formatting style for your Resume to impress the
hiring manager at first glance.

The best used in places:- The trend of a Resume is popular in Canada and
US. Job seekers of these two places use CV to apply for international jobs,
academic jobs, or research oriented job.

The best used for:- It is best used to advertise your professional profile in the
corporate world.

The Length of a Resume:- Length of a Resume can reach up-to three pages
depends on your industrial experiences and your needs.

Reverse Chronological Resume Checklist

 The “Reverse-Chronological resume format” is a most traditional and
popular resume format among job seekers and employers because it
considers all industries and levels of experience. But it is better if the
job seeker has a few years of work experience (strong work history).
  Use this format, when you like to apply for a job in the same field, not
when you like to change your career path. For example – If you have
had a few years of experience working as a cashier in the retail
industry and want to apply for a next level of position in the same field,
use this resume format to jot down your career progress vertically.
 As the format gives more stress to the experience section of a resume
which is well known for the employers – choose this format for your
resume if you can list the same field of experiences without showing
major gaps in the employment history, otherwise don’t use this format.
Also, don’t use this format if you are changing jobs in every few
months.
 Display the work history in the experience section of your resume in
the reverse chronological order – means, a job seeker most recent job
history will be listed first, pursued by each of your prior jobs in order
by date

Order of a Reverse Chronological Resume

Template

Contact Information (Mandatory)

Essential Information:-

 Name (First Name + Middle Name + Last Name): Make it the largest
one among all fonts in your resume.
 Address: Permanent address
 E-mail: Professional Email, not the school/collage/childish(like; cute&
mail id)
 Phone number: Land Line/Mobile

Optional Information:
  Personal website link: If helpful in professional career development
 LinkedIn profile: Make it relevant to the job you are applying for
 Social Media Links: If helpful in the career development

Remove all hyperlinks that automatically generate with your emails and URLs.

Job Objective (Optional)

It is 10 – 15 words of a sentence, more applicable – when you are a fresher,

want to change your career path, and to show directly to the employer that
which position you want to acquire & which responsibilities you want to take.

Objective/Summary (Optional)

Choose any one objective between three objectives from the give below list
based on the type of job seeker you are

 Career Objective
 Professional Profile (or Profile)
 Qualifications Summary

Professional Experience (Mandatory)

 As it is a most important section of the reverse-chronological format,

start listing your experiences with the most recent position
 List the experiences that are relevant to the job you are applying for
 List the role and the responsibilities you have taken in your previous
jobs, but more than that highlights what you have achieved &
accomplished in your previous jobs
 Quantify your achievements & accomplishments that can make easier
for employers to understand your importance.

Education Section (Mandatory)

  List your degrees in reverse chronological order
 Avoid listing abbreviation of your degrees; list the degrees with its full
name. For example; Instead of listing “MBA” in your degree, list
“Master of Business Administration”
 If you have taken higher education after a few years of work
experiences – list the education section at the top of the resume before
the professional experience section.

And, if you have not gone for any regular/correspondence education after
getting a few years of experiences – list the education detail at the bottom of
the resume after the professional experience section.

Skills (Optional)

IT Skills: List the IT skills if you are applying to the IT industry.

 Include software and hardware you are familiar and friendly with
 Include the programming languages you know
 Include all other IT skills that are might be relevant to the job you are
applying for

Industry specific Skills:

 Include the skills that are specific to the job profile

 Include the proficiency of communication skills and interpersonal skills

Additional Sections (Optional)

Additionally, you can include these all optional sections, if you feel these
sections can strengthen your resume,

 Publication
 Language
 Presentations
  Research
 Honors/Awards
 Certifications/Licenses
 Extracurricular Activities
 Volunteer Work Experiences
 Collage Projects
 References

Reverse-Chronological Resume Templates

The reverse chronological resume template is basically for professionals who
have major achievements, accomplishments, experiences, and specialization in
the job profile they are applying for. As the resume starts by displaying a job
seeker’s vertical career progress, make easier for the employers to screen out
the candidates for the interview with respect to the job they are applying for.

Here, you will see various reverse chronological resume templates that facilitate
you to develop your resume with the ease by putting relevant details in the
relevant sections of your resume.

1) Reverse-Chronological Resume Template Of Experienced

Retail Store Cashier

Job Seeker detail: The job seeker is of 8+ years of experienced professional

cashier, currently, working at Wal-Mart and finding a next level of job in the
same field. A professional is also received the honor of “Microsoft Office
Specialist (MOS) certification” in between his job.

Resume Checklist: As a job seeker is 8+ years of experienced professional

who has maintained the continuity in his job from past 8+ years and in-between
his profession, he has taken “Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification” –
the resume will give more stress on highlighting Profile Summary, Certification,
and Professional Experience sections at the top of the resume.

2) Reverse-Chronological Resume Template Of Experienced

Chef

Job Seeker detail: The job seeker is of 9+ years of experienced professional

chef, after getting 9+ years of job experience, went back to collage for higher
studies. Once, he has finished his degree, again started finding a job in the
same field.

Resume Checklist: Here, in this resume template, the education section will

be above the professional experience section, because, the job seeker has left
his job and went back to collage for his higher studied for his career progress
betterment.

Generally, in the resume, we place the education section at the bottom of the
resume when a job seeker had been completed his studies long back, but, if a
job seeker leaves his job for higher studies for his bright future, the education
section will be at the top in the resume.

CV (Curriculum Vitae) :-
CV: CV stands for Curriculum Vitae

The curriculum vitae is a document which includes the summary of your

academic qualification, educational background, skills, , work experiences,
awards, honors, presentations, teaching experiences, degree research,
publications and other vital details of an individual.

A Resume and a CV (Curriculum Vitae) both are used for the same purpose, the
only difference is there in their format and length.
In India, Australia and South Africa – Resume and CV both are used for the
purpose of employment, the only difference is – the word Resume is used
regularly for the private sector jobs and CV for the public sector jobs.

The best used in places: Exclusively, in the UK, Ireland, and New Zealand,
companies demand for CV to screen-out the candidates for the job interviews.

The best used for: CVs are mainly used to applying for –

intercontinental, health care, research, academic, teaching, scholarships,
assistantships, fellowships, internships, and scientific jobs.

The length of a CV: There is no page limit for Curriculum Vitae, the only thing
is – it is always being considered as larger in length as compared to Resume.

Best Practices

Whatever item (Resume, Biodata, or CV) you choose to describe your personal
and professional details in summarized form, the best thing you need to do is –
you should know “the purpose of choosing the item, the details you want to
include in the item, and in which order you want to place the details in the
item?”